Burnout: Acceleracers 5
by NicolaAkiko
Summary: A resolution to one of the cruelest cliff-hangers I've ever encountered.


**A/N: I will try to stick as closely to the plot threads already set out by the original Acceleracers series; however, I cannot promise I won't create a few minor plot holes. I'll try my best!**

**I own neither the premise, nor the characters of Hot Wheels Acceleracers. I'm just trying to cope with the cruelest cliff-hanger I've ever encountered in the best way I can.**

The first rays of the morning sun slowly filtered through the towering hoodoos of the Arizona desert. Fine dust carried by the light breeze swirled around the bases of the formations and a loud, indignant squawk from a desert bird shattered the quiet of the dawn like brittle clay. Only a few minutes ago, the buzzard had been rudely awoken by the roar of engines and the screech of tires as ten cars had skidded to a halt beneath him. The creature, perched in a nest atop one of the hoodoos, ruffled its feathers crossly and peered down into the narrow canyon beneath its roost where several figures were now conversing loudly in a circle. The noise rose and fell sharply as the humans argued amongst themselves. One man, much older than the others and clad in a full body metal brace, seemed to be in charge, though none of the other drivers took any notice of his authority. If anything, most of the younger humans were pointedly ignoring him.

"What are well all just standing around here for?" yelled an olive skinned youth in a slight Spanish accent. "We have a Teku out there somewhere that we need to find!"

"Vert is _gone_, Nolo," the older man emphatically explained to him. "He was made an Acceleracer. Our goal must be to return to the realms and join him!"

"But Doctor Tezla," interjected a petite young woman dressed in grease stained overalls. "Vert was back in the Acceledrome when we lost contact with him. If he went through the portal before Gig destroyed the place, who knows where he could have ended up?"

"Where else could he be but back with the Accelerons?" The only other woman in the groups spoke up jealously. Her hair was pulled tightly back from her sharp face and her blue eyes glinted in the dawn. "There was no reason for him to return to earth now that they've marked him as their equal. Vert would have to be crazy to turn down their offer; If it were me I'd have gone with them in a heartbeat."

"We all know what _you'd_ decide," muttered a large man with huge muscles that rippled beneath a jagged black tattoo reaching from his right wrist all the way to the base of his neck. His left arm was a gruesome sight to behold. Where shoulder should have met bicep, there was a grotesque metal appendage instead. The woman to last speak shot him a cold glare but didn't bother to respond.

"If Vert was heading through the portal when no realms were open, it's possible that he was intercepted and ended up in the wrong headquarters," calmly said a square jawed Japanese man sporting a short black ponytail.

"Drones?" a voice asked nervously. Apprehension was evident in the tone of a fidgeting redheaded driver who had neither the melon like muscles of half the group, nor the cool confidence and style of the others.

"Drones... or Silencerz," replied another large man with black hair and dark skin. His right shoulder was branded with a large stylized M.

A burly man with long orange hair and a bone slung around his neck on a chain like jewelry interjected. "I don't like them Silencerz," he grunted. "They went and disintegrated my motorcyc- WILL YOU TURN THAT GARBAGE DOWN!" He interrupted himself to roar at a much smaller Japanese driver who was completely absorbed in the techno music that was blasting out of his earphones. The music fiend was completely unfazed by the rebuke and continued to bob his head with the pounding rhythm.

"So what are we going to do now?" The question was voiced by a man with short spiky hair and a very cool, almost disinterested expression on his face. The only indication that he was paying attention to the conversation was that his sharp eyes were focused suspiciously on Doctor Tezla behind orange tinted glasses.

Immediately an exuberant cacophony of shouts rose from the group:

"Let's go find Vert!"

"We gotta crush the rest of them Drones!"

"There's no point in doing this anymore if we've completed all of the realms." The last opinion came from the sharp faced woman who had wished to join the Accelerons.

The man with the ponytail, stunned, turned to the woman beside him. "Is that what you think, Karma? You're giving up on finding Vert?"

Karma crossed her arms and stared defiantly back at him. "Taro, Vert is an Acceleracer now. How do you know he even _wants_ to come back? We're finished all the realms now. I've _perfected_ my driving skills in every one of them. There is nothing for us here anymore."

Nolo spoke again, a tone of betrayal is his voice. "But Karma... Vert's a Teku. He's one of us. We're a _family_. We can't just leave him!"

"Why don't any of you guys get it?" Karma said, exasperated. "Silencerz, Drones, what do they all matter anymore? Vert is with the Accelerons! The only way you are ever going to find him is by proving yourselves to be perfect drivers! If we can prove to the world we're the best, that we're _perfect_, then they will make us Acceleracers too. It's time they realize that we deserve this honour!"

"Hey!" interjected Nolo angrily. "If you're not one hundred percent committed to Vert and the Teku, maybe you should just leave!"

Karma glared back at her leader and thrust her chin forward. "Fine," she said icily. She turned to Taro and put at hand on his forearm. "Come with me," she encouraged. "We've got the best cars in the world. We're the best drivers there have ever been! It's _our_ turn to be Acceleracers!"

Taro sadly shook his head and removed her hand from his arm. "Vert's always been there for me. Now it's my turn."

"Kurt?" pleaded Karma to the man in the orange sunglasses.

"Sorry Karma," Kurt answered. "If you're leaving, good luck, but I can't abandon Vert."

"He's gone!" she almost screamed at the group. "The only thing that's important now is becoming an Acceleracer!"

Taro spoke: "Finding Vert is more important than racing now."

"More important than racing, or more important than me?" When Taro didn't answer her, Karma's eyes darkened. "Fine," she whispered murderously. Karma spun on her heel and without a backward glance, marched to her car and screeched away into the distance.

The remaining drivers watched the cloud of dust kicked up by her wheels as their former teammate faded and was lost beyond the horizon. No one spoke until the echoes of her engine had stopped reverberating off the hoodoo walls. It seemed as if the whole group had deflated somewhat at Karma's departure. Nolo was still fuming and kicked viscously at a rock nearby. Taro had crossed his arms and was refusing to meet anyone's eyes. The rest of the company could do nothing but stand awkwardly by, trying to think of something to say to break the stifling silence.

Eventually, Doctor Tezla came to their rescue. He nodded slowly. "Alright. We need a place to go and set up our new base of operations," he said, deliberately avoiding mention of what had just transpired.

"Why don't we go to one of the old World Race headquarters?" suggested the only remaining female. "They have more than enough garage space, beds, and the computers should still be intact."

"All right! Great idea Lani!" The small redheaded driver glowed scarlet as the others snickered at his overenthusiastic outburst.

"Um... thanks Monkey," said Lani uncomfortably, studying the scuffmark on her shoe which has suddenly become extremely interesting.

"So... where is this World Race HQ?" Tork asked.

"The nearest one is about a five hour drive northwest of here," replied Tezla, walking gingerly to the Silencerz car in which Lani had driven the pair of them out of the Acceledrome. "There's a small city a short drive away so I'll need a couple of drivers to go into town and by some supplies. We'll be needing a large amount of food. Diesel and Kurt, you can meet us there when you've gotten everything we need. Try not to be too conspicuous about it. The rest of you, follow me."

"My name ain't Diesel, it's Porkchop," grumbled the man with the bone necklace as the rest of the drivers began clambering back into their vehicles.

Lani walked over to Battle Spec and carefully seated herself amongst the remnants of the recently torn out speakers, calling to doctor Tezla that she would ride with Kurt into town so she could restock the infirmary. For the second time that day the buzzard was startled out of its sleep by roaring engines and wheels spinning furiously as the vehicles drove off.


End file.
